OULTON Park duo Martyn East and Ben Gibbon made their senior debut as Cheshire kept alive hopes of winning their group in the Unicorns T20.

The former played in both games of a double-header with Northumberland at Marple on Sunday, and was their leading-scorer in the first encounter, while his young clubmate took a wicket during a seven-wicket defeat.

The hosts recovered to prevail in the second contest, by 14 runs, and are tied at the Group One table’s summit with Staffordshire – conquerors of Lincolnshire – with one game left.

Both teams conclude their campaign in a fortnight.

Cheshire mustered 95-9 on a testing surface in the opener, with East hitting 39.

Northumberland handled the conditions better, and reached their target with three overs to spare.

Gibbon (1-6) claimed one of the wickets to fall.

Cheshire rallied in the second encounter, posting 135-5 with captain Rick Moore (34) - a former first-team captain at Oulton Park – and Jamie Crawley (30no) leading the way.

East contributed an unbeaten 27 off 16 balls.

This time the visitors fell short, closing on 121-4.

Moore said: “I was pretty pleased overall; we’re in a great position from which we can push on and qualify.”

His side turn their attention back to 50-over action next weekend when Lincolnshire travel to Chester Boughton Hall for a quarter-finals tie in the Unicorns Trophy, from 11am.

The teams meet again seven days later in that decisive T20 round.

Results

Unicorns T20

Group One

Sunday, June 3

At Marple

Cheshire 95-9 Northumberland 99-3, Cheshire 135-3 Northumberland 121-4

At Rolleston

Staffordshire 178-7 Lincolnshire 136, Staffordshire 152-5 Lincolnshire 140-7

To see the Group One table, click here